Boucherville, Quebec, January 26, 2012 – RONA inc. (TSX : RON, RON.PR.A), the largest Canadian distributor and retailer of hardware, renovation and gardening products, is pleased to announce the appointments of Dave Carr to the position of Vice President, Retail, Western Canada, and François Hardy to the position of Vice President, Dealer-Owner Network Development.
Dave Carr’s appointment comes just after that of Luc Rodier to the position of Executive Vice President, Retail. Mr. Carr will report to Mr. Rodier in the same way as the other regional vice presidents for retail: Mario St-Louis (Quebec), Benoît Leduc (Ontario) and Gordon Kennedy (Atlantic Provinces). After beginning as an employee of a TOTEM store lumber yard in 1992, Dave Carr quickly climbed the ranks to become assistant manager, then store manager. After managing several stores in Alberta, Dave became a regional manager, then general manager, and finally Vice President of TOTEM in 2008, three years after RONA’s acquisition of the company. “Dave has a keen understanding of the retail landscape in Western Canada, a territory where markets differ greatly from one province to another and within each province,” said Luc Rodier. “He has solid experience in home renovation and hardware and understands the workings of our new retail structure, which is unique in our industry,” he added. Dave Carr will oversee 74 corporate and TOTEM stores as well as 55 affiliate stores in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
In addition, RONA is pleased to welcome François Hardy to the position of Vice President, Dealer-Owner Network Development. Mr. Hardy, who took office on January 16 and reports directly to Robert Dutton, RONA’s President and CEO, will assist in the development of RONA’s existing dealer-owner network and be responsible for recruiting new dealer-owners. He holds an MBA degree, and his professional background has centred on strategic positions in retail business development, sales and marketing in both Canada and the United States. Until recently, he occupied the position of Vice President, Sales and Marketing, at Intertrade, a business he co-founded in 2003 which specializes in developing partnerships and processes for exchanging information between suppliers and retailers. “Mr. Hardy is an enthusiastic man with a very strong entrepreneurial drive who seeks to put his skills to work for the benefit of our company,” said Mr. Dutton. He noted that the appointment offers the major advantage of helping RONA strengthen its recruitment efforts and, consequently, its network of affiliated dealers.
About RONA
RONA is the largest Canadian distributor and retailer of hardware, home renovation and gardening products and operates a network of more than 950 corporate, franchise and affiliate stores of various sizes and formats. With close to 30,000 employees working under its family of banners in every region of Canada and more than 17 million square feet of retail space, the RONA store network generates more than $6 billion in annual retail sales. For more information, visit www.rona.ca.
- 30 -
close